Games Inbox: Starfield as the biggest disappointment of 2023

Games Inbox: Starfield as the biggest disappointment of 2023

The Monday letters page wishes that Nintendo would buy Sega Sammy, as one reader is unsurprised to hear about the death of Hyenas.

To join in with the discussions yourself email [email protected]

Good advert
I’ve been playing Starfield on Game Pass this weekend and I think I’ve had enough already. It really is the text book definition of ‘fine.’ Nothing about it is terrible and yet nothing about it is great either. There’s very little about it that’s even good, if I’m honest, with the best bits probably being the starship construction and the variety of weapons.

It’s ironic that the game people have got most angry about this year is the one that, under normal circumstances, it’d be almost impossible to have a strong opinion about. And yet still it probably counts as the biggest disappointment of the year, simply because it’s so far from what the hype was suggesting about it.

Personally, it’s well below my personal expectations. When I look back to things like Frontier: Elite 2, and see what games like that did compared to a brand new modern game with a huge budget behind it, it’s shocking really, at the lack of ambition and technical advancement.

In a way it is a good advertisement for Game Pass though, in that if I’d paid money for Starfield I’d have been very upset. With Game Pass though I’m just disappointed and ready to quickly move on.
Fambe

Fine, I’ll do it myself
With all the talk of Microsoft sniffing around, wanting to buy new publishers, and both them and Sony interested in Square Enix, I do wish Nintendo would finally make fans’ dreams come true and buy Sega. As a former Mega Drive owner I know this is a complete betrayal of everything I ever argued in the playground but I think Nintendo are the only ones that could do Sonic justice and who would be interested and capable of bringing back the classic franchises.

I know this isn’t the way Nintendo like to act, especially as they’d have to buy Sammy as well, but perhaps they’ll look and sea how things are panning out and realise they don’t want to get caught out as soon many other companies are getting snapped up.

I’d so love to see a 10/10 Sonic The Hedgehog or modern versions of Golden Axe or Panzer Dragoon. I just don’t think it’s ever going to happen though, unless someone else buys Sega and forces them to do it.
Wotan

All bad things…
I’m very curious to see that free-to-play games, including the mighty Fortnite, seem to be running into trouble. I would have assumed that they were pretty much going to last forever since, you know, they’re free and everything.

So I guess people finally got fed up of being manipulated and conned into buying microtransactions all the time. I’m not sure why that would happen only now and not earlier but then I wouldn’t play such games so I’m not sure if they’ve changed in some way recently, that makes them worse?

I’m not getting too excited though. All these anti-consumer ideas always seem to be replaced by something even worse in the end, so I dread to think what’s next.
Wallace09

E-mail your comments to: [email protected]

Time poor
I feel sorry for anyone that may be in trouble now with the cancelation of Sega’s Hyenas, but that game looked terrible from the very first second they showed it. Super generic, super obnoxious, and yet another live service game filled with pointless cosmetics and desperate monetisation.

It’s funny that Sony’s Fairgame$ looks so similar, just not set in space, as if these things really are just being auto-generated by some AI somewhere.

I like a good online game as much as anyone, but I absolutely do not need to be making it a second job that takes up every second of my spare time, as these companies seem to want to have it. I think that’s why they’re dropping in popularity too, because people are so short of spare time they just can’t keep up.
Columbo

Last throes
Great Reader’s Feature from Eric about the demise of arcades, particularly here in the UK, as it was bringing back memories of my youth. I want to add something that was not mentioned, which is online gaming. In my opinion, that sort of put a nail in the coffin of the arcades. Why? Because it was a way to play against total strangers without having to travel outside your home.

Once it became more popular, when it was a feature on the original Xbox, I think this completely shaped the way we played against other humans, which has been accepted as the norm. A shame, because during the heyday of London’s Trocadero I remember they had something like an eight-player Daytona USA with in-house live commentary, which I thought was funny and excellent. I doubt I will ever see something like that again.
orionz25

Pure evil
Just had a brilliant idea. So, we all know Far Cry, a franchise that has been around since 2004. Ubisoft clearly show no signs of slowing down, since the seventh instalment may very well be due soon. But from what I’ve read, regarding the possible storyline and the heinous time limit, it seems another run of the mill, save the damsels in distress and eliminate the villains. We’ve seen this in every instalment so far, in one way or another. From Vaas to Pagan Min, to Joseph Seed and Anton Castillo. No wonder why the sixth instalment is considered the worst.

That fatigue has morphed, into an insidious spiral. Wouldn’t it be lovely, if we could either team up with the villain or play as a villain instead? Why should I care about resistance groups that leave me to carry out every mission and clear out every outpost but are able to do nothing of note and basically are copy pasted every game? It would be nicer to wipe them out instead, slaughter citizens that we don’t care, about and become pure evil.

Wouldn’t that beat clearing out another outpost, that are all the same, and wondering why fighting pointless wars is what we should give a damn about? At least Far Cry 4 and 6 had fantastic alternate endings. But Ubisoft never listen. So, I’m not purchasing Far Cry 7. I’m done with the outdated, repetitive boredom and the callous and pointless design.

Ubisoft need to do one smart move. Take that risk and make a massive change. To the point of no return and that would sell copies. Not another outpost and not another civil war. It’s dated. It’s lazy. It’s a Far Cry.
Shahzaib Sadiq

GC: Ubisoft never listen? Are you suggesting they’ve been bombarded by requests from fans, for a sequel that lets you slaughter civilians?

Wildlife spotting
RE: White-maned Lynels. I have no idea whether lynel types stay constant throughout the game but currently in my game there is a white-maned lynel on the surface at (-2752, 1812, 0306) between Tama Pond and Tabantha Hills, east of Rito Village

And another at (3886, 0914, 0246) in Ukuku Plains, just north of Ploymus Mountain/Mipha Court in Zora’s Domain.
DazzerZero (NN ID)

Digital preference
I just can’t let one of the comments go in this weekend’s Hot Topic, about old games being unplayable; it was the one about the old Tomb Raider digital controls.

It is actually the most consistent and therefore one of the most reliable control systems devised for that sort of game on the PlayStation. Using the D-pad for movement controls was and still is the preferred and recommended method for the many gamers still playing the old Core Design Tomb Raiders.

It is not perfect, of course, but the fact is the games were designed for playing using the D-pad. Even when joystick control option arrived with Tomb Raider 3, that was considered inferior because it was loose and woolly. The D-pad rules for subtlety, precision, and nuance, making things like curved jumps just a matter of rolling your thumb left or right.

If derogatory comments had been made about the keyboard controls of the old PC Tomb Raider versions, making the game borderline unplayable, I’d agree without any caveats. Playing games like those without a controller is a special type of bad experience for me. However, I know others who still swear by that method, rather than at it.

Anyone old enough to have been playing games in the original PlayStation era will remember that practically every game, even in the same genre, had different controller mapping. It took ages to become competent but that was part of the expected learning curve. It seems to me that some modern gamers not used to that just don’t have the patience we had back then.
Malcolm Lawn

Inbox also-rans
It’s really sad what’s happened to Peter Molyneux’s reputation. He only has himself to blame but to think he used to be considered as Miyamoto level and now he’s just hawking NFTs to morons.
Grady

I am one of those people that believe GTA 6 will be announced in October. Believe might be too strong a word, considering there’s evidence but at the very least I’m betting it’s got to be this month or it’s not this year.
Timsh

This week’s Hot Topic
Believe it or not but the year is now three-quarters done and approaching the busiest period for new game releases. So, for this weekend’s Inbox we want to know what you think of 2023 so far and what you’re looking forward to from the rest of it.

Do include your favourite games that were released new this year, as well as whatever’s launching this autumn that you’re interested in (you can find our release schedule here, if that helps).

But also feel free to discuss the major news events of the year, from Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard to the departure of PlayStation boss Jim Ryan.

E-mail your comments to: [email protected]

The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

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